Deftones have been added to the lineup for the 50 Cent co-headlined California festival Bamboozle Left, which takes place in April. The band’s bass player, Chi Cheng, was in a motorcycle accident back in November that left him in a coma; he was transferred to a brain rehabilitation hospital in early December. His condition hasn’t improved, unfortunately, and the band is going to swap in Sergio Vega for bass-playing duties that weekend—the band’s statement after the jump.
With the announcement of our appearance on Bamboozle, we felt like its time to address some things.
First, Chi.
Our fallen comrade has not made significant progress as of late, but continues to fight on from his accident. Doctors are working feverishly to return our brother to us, and we continue to hold out hope and faith that Chi returns to the life he has waiting for him and can join us on stage once again.For everyone that knows Chi, knows that he never wanted down time. Chialways wanted to keep working and never slow down, which is why we feel confident in returning to the stage at Bamboozle in April. Chi would want it, and we want to make sure we’re keeping his legacy alive.
Back in 1999, Chi had to leave the band for a brief moment and our closefriend Sergio Vega filled in to keep the train moving. 10 years later, Sergio is going to step in once again while Chi is down. Sergio is family to us, and had received Chi’s blessing before, so without a doubt we know that if Chi could tell us now, he would give us his blessing again.
In the meantime, we continue work on our record, and as for Bamboozle, we felt like we needed to poke our heads up for a quick breath before we buckle down and get this record finished… So we’ll see you all in Irvine.
-Deftones
[Deftones In Studio]
The Bamboozle / Bamboozle Left [Official site]
[HT: Absolutepunk]
The high school meathead in me sincerely loves every Deftones single I’ve ever heard, but I never really got into their albums. That being said, they always seemed more sincere than the “nu-metal” group they got lumped together with. I’ll take this at face value - prayers to Chi, and best wishes to the band as they carry on.
Agreed — hope Chi gets better soon.
I first heard Chino rapping Ice Cube’s “Wicked” on Korn’s second CD and was intrigued. Loved these guys in college, met them at Virgin Megastore in Times Square in 2000 and they were cool as hell, and eventually saw them in concert a few years back and they were stupendous. Lots of fond memories attached to the Deftones, and yeah, definitely much more than just a nu-metal band.
I’m convinced the Deftones will be looked back on as the best band of their era and genre. I guess it’s easy to scoff and say that’s not too difficult, but they’ve really made some damn fine albums in the latter part of their career, and going back and listening to the early ones, there’s not as much nu-metal posturing as you’d expect. ‘Saturday Night Wrist’ had some great songs - “KimDracula” has been on infinite repeat for me as of late.
holy fuck i fucking love the fucking ainaimal collective!!!!
chi was in a car accident.. not a motorcycle accident.
much love and healing to him… praying for a fast recovery.